Osama bin Laden: Terrorist Mastermind or CIA Asset? (SPOILER ALERT TERRORIST MASTERMIND)

Ah, so we've come to Osama bin Laden.  OBL as he will normally be referred to as on here, is widely known as the leader of the terrorist organization known as al-Qaeda, who, as you may very well know, is accused (and mostly convicted of) planning and executing the September 11th Terrorist Attacks.  However, truthers believe there is something else at the core of OBL.  That he isn't actually a terrorist mastermind, but actually an asset of the Central Intelligence Agency.

HEY SOVIETS, WE KINDA DON'T WANT YOU HERE

The story of Osama bin Laden as we know him starts with the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.  The general narrative is that the Aghan mujaheddin fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, and helped bleed them of resources and money and helped contribute to it's collapse during the Reagan years.

But truthers think that ol' Ronnie funneled money to Osama bin Laden himself to help repell the Soviet invasion.  They think his name isn't Osama bin Laden at all, but some shit like Tim Osmond.  So is he one of these people?

Me thinks not even this group would be diabolical enough to do 9/11.

Anyways, truthers think that the Reagan administration funneled money and weapons to Osama bin Laden and his group of merry men to help battle the Soviets.  But is this true?  Eh, not exactly.

You see, the funding to help Afghanistan against the Soviets went through one country: Pakistan.  And they had no dealings with the Arab mujaheddin (AKA outsiders of Afghanistan).  The only people they gave funding to were the Afghans.

First of all, why would the United States feel compelled to give resources to outsiders?  There were ample Afghans willing to fight against the Soviet invasion.  About 250,000 is the common number referenced.

Another reason why the United States would have nothing to do with funding or training OBL and his group of Arabs: remember Israel?  You know, that country that's essentially the only ally America has in the Middle East?  They're kind've enemies with the Arab world.  The United States wouldn't put Israel's livelihood in danger for the sake of putting out of its misery an already crumbling Soviet Union.

Peter Bergen of CNN had this to say on the OBL/USA connection:

"The story about bin Laden and the CIA--that the CIA funded bin Laden or trained bin Laden--is simply a folk myth.  There's no evidence of this.  In fact, there are very few things that bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and the U.S. government agree on.  They all agree that they didn't have a relationship in the 1980s.  And they wouldn't have needed to.  Bin Laden had his own money, he was anti-American and he was operating secretly and independently.  The real story here is the CIA did not understand who Osama was until 1996, when they set up a unit to really start tracking him."

Emphasis mine.  Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/15/bergen.answers/index.html

Bergen is known as doing the first interview with OBL in 1997, and this is also where OBL publically declared jihad (holy war) on the United States.

You can also read "The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright, which documents OBL from the 1980s through 9/11, with full citations and sources.  Truthers won't like the contents of the book, but it is what it is.

THAT WAS HIM, BUT IT REALLY WASN'T HIM

The bluntly titled "confession tape" of OBL shows what appears to be him admitting to responsibility of the 9/11 attacks.  Here is the video:

Truthers make the claim that this is, in fact, not OBL at all, but a poor excuse of a stunt double/actor.

First of all, they think that OBL is a CIA asset.  So why, exactly, wouldn't they just use him in the actual tape?  if they are all buddy buddy working toward the same goal, it would seem to me that the real OBL would be on the tape regardless.  

Anyways, truthers often cite this still as proof it isn't OBL:

Never mind the fact that the video quality here is utter shit.  They cite that he looks too chubby.  His beard doesn't match, etc.

Here is another still from the same video:

All of a sudden he isn't looking so chubby and more Osama bin Laden like, yes?

Here is another:

Again, looks pretty similar to OBl, right?  All from the same video that the still truthers use came from.  Imagine that.

BUT WAIT! OBL IS WEARING A RING IN THIS VIDEO!  MUSLIMS DON'T WEAR SUCH THINGS!

Well, muh clearer footage of bin Laden also show him wearing rings.  Proof? Alright:

Other prominent Muslims wearing rings:

If you don't know who the above people are, then you really shouldn't be commenting on Muslim topics anyways.

So, it is shown that truthers are either really gullible to take one still from a video that they probably never actually watched before as fact, or they are willingly lying to people's faces about the contents of the video.  Neither would surprise me.

And it's not like this is the only time that OBL has confessed to the 9/11 attacks, either.  Here he is in October 2001 to al-Jazeera:

Here is who is believed to be Osama bin Laden (ccertainly sounds like him) praising and naming the 9/11 hijackers, which also helps debunk the whole "hijackers are still alive" theory and the "no Arab names were on any of the flight manifests" theory:

Certainly looks like Osama bin Laden hates America, right?  Absolutely doesn't sound like someone that is on the CIA's payroll.  He approves of the attacks, confesses to responsibility to the attacks, names the hijackers, etc.